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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    Materials made for the Super Dimension Fortress Macross TV series indicated that the "general residential areas" where the city was reconstructed aboard the Macross were in both of the ship's "legs" and the lower levels of its "torso". Basically everywhere south of the actual main gun system. (Of course, those materials also show the sections of city in the "torso" stacked at least four layers deep in some places and it's not entirely clear how one would get around in there in something like a car since the roads are only shown at the lowest level in much of the art. Presumably there are ramps or elevators offscreen.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    I'll have to get back to you on some of them, since some of my books are up in my study. The VF-1 Valkyrie's Super Pack parts are numbered NP-BP-01 (boosters), NP-AR-01 (arms), and NP-FB-01 (legs). Master File asserts several variants of each, with the TV series version of the Super Pack being NP-BP-01A, NP-AR-01B, and NP-FB-01B and the movie version being NP-BP-01B, NP-FB-01B, and NP-AR-01C. The VF-11 Thunderbolt's booster packs are listed as NP-SP-09, and the conformal leg tanks as NP-SF-09. Master File lists the YF-19 and VF-19A-D's conformal packs as NP-AB-20b (legs) and NP-FB-FA07 for the upper arms, and the VF-19F/S type's as NP-BAP-21 (boosters) and NP-AR-24 (legs). Master File lists the VF-25's booster as NP-FAD-23 and declines to name any of the other components. The only component of the VF-25's Armored Pack to be given any kind of identification is a component omitted from the VF-25 configurations we've seen. An armor piece for the nose with the part identifier P-011.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    So... put simply, Strange Machine's presentation is markedly more modern and professional than Palladium's but you get less in terms of actual content. As often as I put Palladium Books on blast for its haphazard writing practices, their Robotech game tries to give players a better - and bigger - picture of the Robotech setting to use as a starting point for games. The writers put a lot of effort into trying to maximize the freedom players had to develop characters and storylines outside of a narrow focus of the military and the Robotech Wars. They sometimes had to take questionable liberties with the setting to do it, but it was for a good cause. Strange Machine's game books are definitely prettier, the view of the setting and story is much narrower and the information it provides is more sparse, less accurate, and generally less useful in that regard. There's less actual game in Strange Machine's game. Granted, Palladium's game design absolutely leans heavily simulationist and as a result its character skills can be excessively granular at times. Strange Machine's game design leans just as far in the opposite direction with characters skills written excessively broadly. It's easier by far to fix excessive granularity with house rules than to house rule limits onto over-broad "Swiss Army" skills. Simplicity is good, but oversimplification can quickly become immersion-breaking. Especially when a character's skills/attributes permit them to do things common sense says shouldn't be possible with their specific knowledge base. Someone whose character has the Sailor archetype, for instance, could claim their character has equal ability to pilot any sailing vessel from a bathtub to a battleship. A character with a Mechanic archetype can claim to be equally adept at fixing a dishwasher or a Destroid. It's not as much an issue in Robotech, but if someone were to adapt the game to Macross as is basically inevitable for the Robotech RPG you've got the potential for a Valkyrie Pilot archetype's holder to claim equal skill on every kind of transformable aircraft from fighters to attacks to bombers to reconnaissance planes. If your players are good, this can work well when its style suits them. If your parents are even the slightest bit argumentative, the GM is going to be living in Because I Say So Land for the duration of the game.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Odds are you never will... that particular configuration was something that Variable Fighter Master File's writers came up with, and doesn't appear in Macross's official setting. It's difficult to tell, because the art really isn't easy to make out... but it looks like the attachment point is on the shoulders. This'd probably prevent the VF-19 from transforming since the packs would end up facing each other. Presumably they do... but individual pack model numbers are not usually given in favor of referring to the packs collectively by configuration. I believe the only other model besides the VF-1 Valkyrie to have individual FAST Pack model numbers cited in official Macross setting materials is the VF-11. Variable Fighter Master File offers unofficial designations for certain packs on other models of VF.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    Is the SMTP server not responding, or just overloaded?
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Can't see how it could... Normally, if you want to make it harder for an enemy to discern your movements by eye you use either regular camouflage (in the hopes of going unseen) or dazzle camouflage (to trick the eye regarding what direction you're moving). If it were about disorienting the enemy, I'd expect to see a dazzle camouflage paintjob like the YF-27-5's: All in all, I can't really imagine any psychological warfare potential in the new enemy VF's tacky ground effects lightning... unless someone was really badly traumatized during a showing of TRON. Unlikely, IMO. "Energy shields" the way most science fiction or science fantasy titles conceptualize them don't exist in the Macross universe. The closest equivalent in Macross - the barrier technology developed during the First Space War - works on very different principles from the shields of most other sci-fi franchises. Rather than a "force field" made up of high-intensity electromagnetic fields or layers of exotic particles, Macross's barrier technology produces a localized discontinuity in the fabric of space time. A dimensional fault, to use the show's favored term for it. It's warping space-time in a very specific area relative to the barrier system such that matter and energy can't traverse it. What you end up with is essentially a movable immovable object that can be freely shaped and deflect physical objects just as readily as lasers, particle beams, plasma, and radiation. The upside is that it's a highly versatile defensive mechanism with far better defensive ability than even energy conversion armor can offer. The downside is that tying space-time in knots requires a LOT of power and, more importantly, it's impermeable in both directions. That last bit is why pinpoint barriers are the norm rather than omnidirectional ones... the enemy can't shoot you through it, but you can't shoot the enemy through it either. A VF with omnidirectional barrier coverage would be well-defended but utterly incapable of returning fire.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Let's see... Edit: yup, lightning fast now.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    Over the last day or two, I've noticed it's taking a really long time for posts to... post... once I hit the Post/Submit button. It'll stick on "Saving..." for a good 20-30 seconds or more. I've been seeing it on several different OS's and versions of Chrome. I haven't tried with other browsers.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    It could be, I guess. Or any of a host of other things. It's been mentioned a few times that Valkyries do provide power (and probably data bus connections) to their gunpod(s) through connectors in the hand. Even though I don't think it's been explicitly reiterated in the case of the 5th Generation VFs, I suspect it's a very safe bet it's still the case since it IS stated that beam gunpods are drawing their power from the VF's engines. That said, it could also be something else entirely. Maybe some kind of fold wave receiver since it's apparently working in tandem with Hot Topic-brand Walkure. Could be some kind of active stealth system other than the usual anti-radar mechanism like one intended to defeat fold wave radar or an optical camouflage system meant to scramble target locks like the Windermereans were using early in Macross Delta. Could be a purely aesthetic touch too. Maybe the developer, or end user, is just really REALLY in love with TRON lines. Add a bit of purple in there and I'd suggest they were going for a vaporwave theme.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    It's a safe bet... the Daedalus and Prometheus were definitely hooked up to the Macross's gravity control systems. Macross Chronicle notes that it was an artificial gravity field thrown up over the Prometheus's deck that allowed them to do normal CATOBAR operations while in space.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Hey now, the mounting wasn't jury-rigged... it just wasn't made for those exact ships.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Useless bloody Facebook page, that one... between the rampant misinformation and the useless mods pursuing their personal vendettas they're as bad as the Robotech fans when it comes to spreading misinformation. That's definitely a current-gen Battle-class under all that garbage. Looks like Satelight's reusing the Battle Frontier CG model with some cosmetic alterations. I doubt it has anything to do with the Epsilon Foundation. The promo materials pitched this as a new antagonist and, if we're being honest, the Epsilon Foundation aren't at all the type to have aspirations of galactic domination. Yeah, they're evil... but they're corporate evil. They're greedy and amoral war profiteers who are only too happy to sell weapons to both sides and relief supplies to everyone caught in the middle, but actually going out and busting heads themselves is way WAY outside their comfort zone. Whoever this new antagonist is, they have enough clout to somehow obtain one of the largest New UN Forces capital ships and extensively modify it. That's somehow who has a level of power rivaling or exceeding an emigrant government head of state. Given that this ship is apparently associated with the new "evil" idol group Yami-Q-Ray and this new VF we've seen, that's someone who's also spent a lot of time and resources researching how to weaponize fold songs. There's exactly one person in the scenario who has the wealth of a megacorporation, the resources and connections to influence the New UN Government and New UN Forces, and is directly connected to efforts to weaponize fold songs and researching their weapons potential: Lady M. If it's not her, then we're in "giant space flea from nowhere" or "suspiciously similar substitute" territory for explaining this new antagonist. You'd need some kind of gravity and inertia control system to keep the structural stresses manageable... like of gravity and inertia control system a ship like that is packed to the rafters with already.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    I'm starting to feel like most of Funimation's recent acquisitions are all isekai titles with similar premises. Started Combatants will be Dispatched and it seems to basically be The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious by way of The Dungeon of Black Company... or maybe Needless, if it turns out he has any more obvious anime fetishes. EDIT: OK no, I was wrong. This is an isekai version of Chivas 1-2-3, the Sorcerer Hunters spinoff localized as Sorcerer on the Rocks. Six, like Chivas, is one walking argument that being a total bastard WORKS.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Ah yes, the only design from Southern Cross that looks like some thought went into it. Robo-Milhouse there will never be cool. Seriously. There was literally never anything stopping you. Smart fellow, that creator. ... unlikely. Strange Machine's books are kinda bare-bones compared to Palladium's.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    ... where have I seen this before? ... this resembles the old first-generation Macross-class ship that was sold to Zelgaar Heavy Industries in Macross Delta Gaiden: Macross E. It was dubbed the "Macross Extra" and had been modified to assist in weaponizing fold songs by Ivan Tsari. ... are we about to learn Lady M has been playing both sides this entire time?
  16. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... that claim was printed as speculation in the Macross Chronicle Mechanic Sheet for the Neo Glaug. It's also kinda... demonstrably false. Someone working on that sheet screwed up, bigtime. The Neo Glaug was a prototype unmanned fighter developed at the same time as, and as a competitor to, the Ghost X-9 in Macross Plus: Game Edition. Late 2030s development, with the prototype being demonstrated in 2040. The UN Forces version of the Variable Glaug was a production aircraft in 2022, 18 years before the Neo Glaug's prototype debuted. In production terms, yeah... Kawamori designed the Neo Glaug for Macross Plus: Game Edition first and worked backwards to create the Variable Glaug for Macross M3. But in the actual Macross setting it's the other way around. The Variable Glaug predates the Neo Glaug by a whopping 22 years. Let's not lump those two together. Critical Path was a legitimate tech firm with defense industry connections whose CEO was a major backer of Latence and had connections to General Galaxy. They're known to have sold weapons they developed to Latence-affiliated forces, but I don't believe they've ever been presented as an intermediary selling General Galaxy-developd weapons. Roschier Company are (self-identified) smugglers who have black market arms sales a part of their portfolio and were seen with stolen(?) or unlawfully sold equipment from a number of different firms including General Galaxy and Shinnakasu Heavy Industry. Macross Galaxy itself is a subsidiary of General Galaxy. "Guld Works" is the nickname for the Macross Galaxy Variable Fighter Development Arsenal, an aerospace research facility devoted to advanced development work located in, and part of, Macross Galaxy. Macross Galaxy is arguably a "rogue" corporate state, though there hasn't been anything to directly implicate its parent company General Galaxy in its shenanigans since the Cyber Noble ruling class there keep everyone locked in augmented reality mind control and seem to be acting purely on their own desires. "SV Works" is the nickname for a General Galaxy advanced development group and facility that specializes in the development of Valkyries designed to fight Valkyries. Its founder, General Galaxy cofounder Alexei Kurakin, was a lead developer on the SV-51... before he defected to the UN Government and became a lead developer on the VF-4 for Stonewell and Bellcom, and going on to cofound General Galaxy. He was a pragmatist, or maybe a cynic, who firmly believed that the day would come when Valkyries would have to fight other Valkyries and established the SV Works to develop "Slayers of Valkyries" in anticipation of that inevitability. He was dead for a good while before General Galaxy got all Anaheim Electronics and the Epsilon Foundation started buying the rights to SV Works designs for sale to emigrant governments. It's kind of unfair to put him in the same lot with the Macross Galaxy fleet's Cyber Nobles when he was, by all accounts, a decent human being.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Was doing a little bit of poking around in various Master File books and Macross Chronicle sheets earlier, and I think I've sorted out a few nagging questions I had. Macross Chronicle's Technology Sheet 01E oh-so-casually mentions how the Earth UN Forces acquired energy conversion armor technology. They got it from battle pods left aboard Alien Star Ship 1. That kind of explains the nagging question of how they were able to benchmark the performance of their own energy conversion armor technology as discussed in several other articles. Interestingly, the same sheet also mentions the VF-0's armor as a mixture of titanium and carbon-based composite materials incorporating/applying nanotechnology. We did already know that there were advanced "hypercarbon" composite materials in play, so that's not really a surprise per se. It also mentions, in passing, that the VF-25 etc. are utilizing 2nd Generation energy conversion armor systems. This is where it gets good... Macross Frontier introduced two new types of Energy Conversion Armor technology, neither of which was really explained properly. The first one to get mentioned is the Advanced Energy Conversion Armor used in the VF-25's Armored Pack and in SMS's heavily modified VB-6 Koenig Monster. The other, which wasn't really name-dropped until the materials made for Macross Frontier: the Wings of Goodbye, is Energy Conversion Armor II. There was also the mostly-unqualified statement about the greater generator output of the new Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines providing enough surplus to run the energy conversion armor at low power around key areas like the engines and the cockpit while operating in Fighter mode. Since Advanced Energy Conversion Armor was only used for special purposes and was acknowledged to be extremely expensive stuff, that Energy Conversion Armor II was only really name-dropped extensively in the VF-27's Super Pack from the second movie made it seem like it was similarly expensive/rare hardware and that the VF-25, VF-27, etc. all were using the same old energy conversion armor as previous generations but with more power behind it. That's looking like it was an incorrect assumption. Both Macross Chronicle and Master File point to the aforementioned 2nd Generation energy conversion armor that's the standard for the VF-25 and other fighters of its generation being Energy Conversion Armor II. The more expensive Advanced Energy Conversion Armor is used on the forearm anti-projectile shield to improve its defensive ability. There were some interesting notes related to that in Master File about Energy Conversion Armor II's greater strength being a combination of a more resilient armor material, the system being more energy efficient, and just plain having more energy to throw at it. It's also interesting to note that apparently both the light energy conversion armor protection around the cockpit and engines in fighter mode and the Armored Pack's any-mode use of energy conversion armor are running off capacitor power rather than directly off the generators, meaning their runtime is limited rather than indefinite as it would be in other modes. Master File had a very useful note in the margins that offers what, as far as I know, is the only attempt to explain how energy conversion armor actually works. They stuck with the explanation in Chronicle that it's a layered, laminated armor material. The explanation for how its durability improves when it's electromagnetically charged is that there are layers made of a special alloy that increases its molecular bonding when subjected to specific electromagnetic frequencies. Bulletproof glass, for instance, is layers of either clear acrylics or polycarbonates sandwiched with a flexible plastic. The hard plex layers absorbs the shock and the flexible layers beneath help spread the shock across a larger area to minimize the penetration of the projectile. Energy conversion armor is basically a bulletproof glass-like material where layers of that special alloy that increases its hardness when subjected to electromagnetic pulses are bonded to more flexible composite armors to achieve the same effect. (Apparently this allows it to be applied to the canopies of Variable Fighters as well...)
  18. Seto Kaiba
    So... finished The Dungeon of Black Company. Not a bad series, but the ending of the TV anime definitely needs some TLC from the writer(s). Kinji revolutionizes the world's energy and magic industries by... reading the operations manual for the dungeon? For a minute there, it looked like the world was going to be saved by an end user who knew how to RTFM and wouldn't that have been a mindf*ck? Instead, he's arrested on some unspecific trumped up charge that isn't explained, tortured for a bit in prison, then released just as inexplicably after his subordinates find and use a manual that he wrote specifically detailing how to circumvent all those problems that was never mentioned or alluded to at any prior point. He gets himself appointed CEO of his old company and then has it acquired by the company he founded as a wholly-owned subsidary. It screams "help help we can't figure out how to tie off the bloody stump of this plot". At least it's not as bad as the show my girlfriend found today. Nekopara. On the surface, it's an inoffensive little cutesy show about a bunch of catgirls living in an upscale pastry shop. As long as you don't think about it, there is nothing to see here. The minute you DO think about it... it quickly becomes repulsive.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Nah... assuming the 3rd Fighter Wing operates four flights per squadron, that would imply only that Arad is organizationally the least senior flight leader in the squadron. Of course, that may owe less (or nothing) to his rank than it does to his flight operating in a non-standard capacity as a flight demonstration team and a bodyguard detail for Tactical Sound Unit Walkure.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    One of the other odd touches in Delta that definitely feels like an inconsistency is that Xaos uses Air Force organizational terms for its Valkyrie units even though the protagonists are a carrier-based force. Available material lists their unit affiliation as Xaos Ragna 3rd Fighter Wing. Oddly no mention of squadron, which is normally the default operating unit. It seems likely they've pulled a SMS and are organized purely by Flight in the field. So, on that note... I went back to episode 22 to investigate. Whoever's speaking over the PA in the hangar mentions loading Alpha and Delta Flights onto the Aether, so presumably Beta and Gamma Flights remained aboard the Hemera. They also, interestingly, mention transferring Destroids to the Hemera. I don't believe we ever see any aboard ship, though. They do mention a Theta Flight, though it's not clear if that unit is stationed aboard the Elysion or came in on one of the other ships. Assuming they're lettering their flights without any skips, that implies the 3rd Fighter Wing is at least twice the size of the forces directly seen/mentioned aboard the Elysion, since Theta is the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet after Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta. At least in the US, a Fighter Wing normally has two squadrons. Eight five-aircraft Flights would be enough for two squadrons, which are usually 12-24 planes. If we assume Xaos is numbering their Fighter Wings and Fighter Squadrons sequentially - which is admittedly just a wild guess with nothing particular to go on aside from the basic assumption of organizational laziness - then it's at least mildly likely that Xaos's 3rd Fighter Wing consists of the Xaos's 5th and 6th Tactical Fighter Squadrons, with Delta Flight being the last unit in 5th Squadron.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Overlord is pretty close to what you're looking for, I think. Momonga/Ainz is definitely a Villain Protagonist Evil Overlord, and most of his time is spent trying to figure out what the hell is going on or reining in the excesses of his Evil By Nature subordinates. The one area it falls short of what you're looking for is that there isn't a capital-H Hero in the story yet. The main character keeps expecting to find worthy opponents in the world, but thus far none have come forward. There's a fourth season of Overlord that's supposed to be coming out soon too. I doubt they'll ever animate How to Build a Dungeon: Book of the Demon King since it's got some sexually explicit moments, but it's in that same thematic category as well.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Frontier would probably have been a better series for them to show off VFs with that kind of networked battle management capability. Not only were the forces involved larger, SMS was a lot more professional and a lot more willing to cooperate with the local New UN Forces. Chuck... definitely didn't do much in the Delta. A lot of his role seemed to be analogous to Deanna Troi's in Star Trek: the Next Generation. Those advanced sensors of his were used mainly to state the obvious like that the New UN Forces attacking them had been taken over by Var syndrome. On a quasi-related note, one detail that's bothered me for a while about Macross Delta is how small the fighter complement of the Macross Elysion is relative to its size. The Macross Elysion is more than twice the size of the Macross Quarter, and she's a fair bit larger than the standard New UN Spacy Guantanamo-class and Uraga-class space carriers, but carries a fraction of the number of mecha. The Guantanamo-class carries up to 50 fighters, the Uraga-class up to 75, and the Macross Quarter-class up to 80. The Elysion's a fair bit bigger in each case, but between the Aether and Hemera it seems to only be carrying 23 aircraft in total. Just the four 5-plane flights of VF-31s (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta), two training-use VF-1EX's, and the shuttle Walkure uses. No other fighters like the VF-171EX's that the Pipure branch had. No unmanned fighters. Nothing else. It strikes me as especially weird since the Macross Elysion is supposed to be the sector command ship for Xaos forces in the Brisingr cluster. Their biggest stick is a Macross-type that seems to be on the old side and just twenty fighters? You'd expect a ship that's halfway between a Macross Quarter and full first-gen Macross would be carrying a hundred or so VFs. The Macross had 300+ when all was said and done, and the movie version had over 500. Yeah, the Zentradi are definitely not to be trifled with.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    I'm kinda stuck with it, since there's just the one game store in my area is a GameStop that almost exclusively trades in XBox stuff various "geek" collectibles. You'd think Nintendo would take the path of least resistance and offer ports of bestselling games from more recent older systems. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what DOES get ported to the Switch. The occasional current-gen AAA game I can understand easily enough, but there's a surprising number of horror walking simulators from days gone by like Amnesia: the Dark Descent. I'm pretty sure I saw the original Quake in there earlier... like, Windows 95 Quake. Better search and filtering functions would definitely help on the eShop. Especially if they could put proper category and age filters in there so customers could filter out the knockoff art applications and the million-and-one iterations of "pretty girl <casino game>".
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Mostly finished with Dungeon of Black Company. Its premise is... different. I'm not sure I'd call it great, but it's definitely good and more importantly it's highly distinctive in a genre that has been overflowing with minimum-effort copycats.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Fired up my Switch for the first time in a while. I know Nintendo said they were opening the gates of the Nintendo eShop to a greater variety of games including those meant for adults... but the games on offer there are 99% "Sad Trombone". It's all shovelware, casino games, PG-13 versions of galge, and the kind of minimum-effort JRPG that was clearly expected to sell because of the waifu on the cover art. Nice to know we're gonna start seeing Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64 games the expanded Switch Online though. Most of the use I've gotten out of it, excl. Ace Attorney and Hyrule Warriors, has been playing old games on the Nintendo Switch Online NES and SNES emulators.
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